Modi to join BIMSTEC summit

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar will visit the Maldives and Sri Lanka from March 26-30 to hold bilateral meetings and participate in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meeting in Colombo.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually join the fifth BIMSTEC Summit being hosted by Sri Lanka on March 30.

Several agreements related to bilateral development cooperation and the inauguration and launch of several Indiasupported projects will be signed during Jaishankar’s visit to the Maldives from March 26-27.

He will go to Addu city to meet President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold talks with foreign minister Abdulla Shahid, the external affairs

Narendra Modi

ministry said. The projects to be inaugurated during the visit will contribute to the socioeconomic development of the Maldives and enhance the country’s security, the ministry added.

Jaishankar will then visit Sri Lanka from March 28-30 at the invitation of his counterpart GL Peiris.

The meeting is preceded by the visits to India by Sri Lanka’s finance minister Basil Rajapaksa last December and earlier this month, and Peiris in February.

“The bilateral meetings and interactions which (Jaishankar) will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that Sri Lanka occupies for India,” the ministry said.

While in Sri Lanka, Jaishankar will also participate in the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting in Colombo on March 29.

The Maldives and Sri Lanka are India’s key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean and occupy a special place in the vision of SAGAR (Security and

Growth for All in the Region) and its Neighbourhood First policy.

Jaishankar’s visit to both countries reflects the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka, the ministry said.

To prepare for the BIMSTEC Summit, meetings of senior officials and the foreign ministers will be held on March 28 and March 29, respectively.

Challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainties faced by BIMSTEC members within the international system impart “greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level”, the external affairs ministry said. This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations at the BIMSTEC Summit.

The leaders are also expected to discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms for the group.

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI WILL VIRTUALLY JOIN THE FIFTH BIMSTEC SUMMIT BEING HOSTED BY SRI LANKA ON MARCH 30